Mario Mystery Part 1: The Thousand Year Door
by YoshiPerson
Summary: Ethan wakes up in the middle of the Mushroom Kingdom, with Mario gone and Ethan to take his place, now he must join Luigi on a quest to save Princess Peach, while looking for answers about what has become of the plumber. Chapter 5 up! PLEASE REVIEW THIS!
1. Chapter 1: The Departure

My name is Ethan, I am a 13 year old kid who lives in the suburbs of Chicago. I live with my parents and little sister, and Christmas had just passed. One of the presents I recieved was a Nintendo Wii, I was exited to play it for the first time. My parents went out for a walk with my little sister. Among the games I recieved was Paper Mario; The Thousand Year door, a Gamecube game, my parents couldn't afford a Wii game, because of the price for the Wii itself.

I set up the Gamecube on the Wii and selected the game on the channel screen. The disc loaded. The screen turned blank, and a dark figure dressed in a purple cloak appeared, I couldn't see his face. He laughed and extended his hand out of the screen, I stared at him in awe and tried to process what was happening. He grabbed my shoulder and I was pulled into the screen. He hit me in the head so hard, I blacked out from the impact.

I woke up in comfortble bunk bed. Maybe I was dreaming the whole thing, that thought was shattered when I stared into the face of a mustachioed man dressed in a green shirt and jean suspenders. He looked sad, angry, and surprised at my presence.

"Who the heck are you, and what have you done to my bro?" He demanded.

I stared at him for a couple seconds, looked around the room I was in, my eyes met a small picture on the night stand, there stood the man in front of me in the picture, next to him was another man, only smaller, and he dressed in red.

That's when I recognized him.

The man in front of me was none other than Luigi.

I stared at him, he was expecting me to say something to him. I gave him what he wanted.

I screamed after the initial shock.

"HOW THE HECK DID I GET HERE? WHAT HAPPENED?"

"So, you are just as confused as I am, then."

"YEAH, I AM! I NEED TO GET HOME!"

"You appeared last night, which was the same time Mario disspeared."

I stopped screaming, and I told Luigi what had happened at my house.

"Strange, I have never seen a dark man in a purple cloak before, maybe he's a new bad guy..."

"MAIL CALL!"

Luigi went outside and found a letter from Princess Peach, saying that she needed Mario to come to a town named Rougeport.

"Look, kid, I need to go to Rogueport to fill in for Mario. You should hang around here until I get back, just in case something happens."

I knew I would be bored out of my mind just staying behind. I wanted to go with Luigi.

"I think I should go with you, because whoever captured Mario might come after you, too. I think we should stick together, you know, to protect each other, because if the both of you are gone, and Bowser kidnaps Peach, that won't be good." I said.

Luigi thought about it for a moment, then he gave me a sharp nod.

"The boat leaves in an hour." He replied.

For a half hour the two of us grabbed money from the bank and bought some supplies that might help us. Because if the Treasure Map was sent to the Mario Bros., somebody could have been after it. Whatever it lead to, it must have been very valuable to whoever wanted it.

We arrived at the dock, and saw the boat waiting for us there. We climbed onto it, and noticed three cloaked people in an alley watching us as we sailed off to the town.


	2. Chapter 2: Discovery

**I'm going to try and upload a chapter every few days to a week. This will be a long series before Mario is found (or not!) anyways, keep reading, and review for better chapters!**

After a three hour trip overseas to Rogueport, we finally arrived at the brutal merchant town. Trash and paper littered the entire place, I looked at Luigi, we were both wondering the same thing. _Why would the Princess be in THIS place?_

As we were exiting the boat, we heared a loud scream. Looking over to the source, I saw a young Goomba girl, she was being attacked by a gang of burly men. They all had rounded bodies and they had Xs on their shirts. They were persuing the girl for something, yelling at her.

"Allright, spill, kid, why were you asking questions about the Crystal Stars?" The largest guy said.

"I know absolutely nothing, bub! Leave me alone!" Shouted the Goomba.

Luigi ran over to the gang, I followed behind him. The Goomba immediatly dove behind us.

"Ha! You think that hiding behind a couple of guys will stop us?" Said the large guy.

He ran at Luigi and jumped in the air, attempting to tackle Luigi. Luigi sidestepped, nearrowly avoiding the attack. I dove out of the way to protect myself, grabbing the Goomba to protect her. The man swung his fists around me, hitting me several times in the arm and chest. I belted him in the face, which caused him to fall backward. I ran up to him and kicked him in the ribs and he let out a loud groan. He touched a button on his watch, all of a sudden, dozens of his grunts surrounded us.

"PUNISH THEM!"

The grunts all began to tackle us at once. I found a way out of the carnage with Luigi and the Goomba. We soundly made our way out of the area without the people noticing. We continued running through the town until we were sure we lost them.

"Are you guys okay?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah." I replied, panting like a dog on a hot summer day.

"Thanks, you guys." Said the goomba.

"You're Welcome." I said, "Who were those guys back there?"

"I don't know." Said the Goomba. "I was asking questions for a homework assignment for my college on the Crystal Stars when these guys cornered me."

Just then, we heard a cool english voice from behind us that made everyone jump.

"Master Luigi? What are you doing here? And who, pray tell, are these strangers?"

"Hello, Toadsworth." Said Luigi, "Mario is missing, so I am filling in for him, this kid here is tagging along with me. We saved this goomba from a gang of strangers who were attacking her. What's your name?"

"Goombella." She said.

"Heavens, Mario is missing? Then who will save the Princess?"

"She got kidnapped again?" Luigi screamed.

"Bowser claims up and down it wasn't him this time, Master Luigi! Who could have done this?"

While they were all talking, I saw two Piantas cornering and beating on some civilians.

"... what do you think, Ethan?"

"What?" I said.

"Do you think we should see Goombella's professor about the treasure map?" Asked Luigi.

"Yeah, we can't decipher this ancient writing." Added Goombella.

"I think it's a good idea." I said.

"Jolly good, then. You chaps go and decipher the map, I will check around town to see if anyone knows about the Princess' dissapearance. OH, I HOPE SHE'S ALL RIGHT! THE HORROR! THE HORROR!" He walked away in tears.

We made our way over to the house that resided Professor Frankly, Goombella's superior.

"Who's there?" Said the old Goomba.

"It's me, Professor!" Shouted Goombella. "I have a map I would like you to decipher. These are my friends who saved me from a gang."

"Nice to meet you. Let me at that map of yours."

We spent about an hour looking at the map, listening to Frankly talk about the legendary treasure that resides in the Thousand Year Door. He talked about a town that sank into the earth after a huge earthquake and the gold and jewels kept in its treasury. He also droned about the seven Crystal Stars that must be found before the door can be opened. They were spread out throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, and they could only be found by holding the map up to the door to reveal their locations.

"The door is said to be hidden in a secret room somewhere in the sewers." Proffessor Frankly said.

"Then that is where we're headed." I said with confidence.

After a while of searching, we found a grate we could open and jump through to get into the sewers.

The sewers turned out to be different then what I imagined. They didn't smell that much, in fact, it looked like there was a town down there for a while. We spent several hours scouring the area for any sight of the Thousand Year Door.

"Hey guys, come and look at this." Said Goombella.

Luigi, Professor Frankly and I went over to where Goombella was to see what she had found. She found a high ledge, and we could see an old archway on the other side.

"Professor Frankly and I can't reach." Said Goombella.

I had an idea.

"Hey, Luigi, do you think you could reach it with a jump? You could grab onto the ledge and pull us up." I sugested.

Luigi nodded and leaped into the air. I was amazed with the height he could jump, I knew that would be usefull down the road.

Luigi grabbed my arm and hoisted me up. He then grabbed my legs and lowered me town to pull Goombella and Frankly up on the ledge. We went through the doorway to find a magnificent chamber, the entire room was a bright limestone, with a pedestal in the middle. There was a burgandy door with several designs, including seven star shapes.

"Hold the map up on the pedestal to get the first star's location." Said Professor Frankly.

I stepped up onto the pedestal and took out the map. I held it up into the air. Immediately, I saw a huge beam of light emit from the map. I looked at the map, and saw a castle appear on the right side of the map, in the mountains over a large valley near of Rougeport. I showed the map to Professor Frankly, asking him where the area was.

"Petalburg. Just east of here. It is about a two day hike from here." Said Professor Frankly.

"Alright, we leave tomarrow morning." Said Luigi.

**Longer than the first chapter! You will see some transformations in a few chapters, just like I promised.**

**Just let me clear a few things up.**

**This series of stories will be the games, without Mario, and with my own plot twists, so that even if you are familiar with the games, you won't know what will happen next.**

**SPOILER: The end of this series will intorduce a surprising new bad guy. I GUARUNTEE you will love him, and hate him at the same time.**

**Anyways, CH. 3 will be up in a few days, I will try and maintain this as best I can, doing edits and such regularly.**

**Review, favourite, and I'll see you all next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3: Tragety and Triumph

**Thank you all for reading this story. As you can see it has gone on longer than the "kid gets transported to video game world" stories I have seen so far. I happen to really like those, although they just stop after the first couple of chapters. This story won't be like that.**

We woke up at 8:00 to begin our walk to Petal Meadows. The trip was rather exiting for Luigi, Goombella and I. We were talking about the supposed location of the star, because Goombella was saying that the castle that appeared on the map looked like Hooktail Castle, an old castle used in times of war which was taken over by a massive dragon.

"Legends say that Hooktail is looking for the perfect mate, and he posesses the power of transformation. If he finds the right mate, no matter what species, he will turn them into a dragon to love forever." Goombella said, reading from one of the books we brought with us.

"Now, that's interesting." I said. "Well, Goombella, I think you will be PERFECT for Hooktail."

"Shut up!" She said as she kicked me playfully.

We arrived in Petal Meadows shortly afterward. We could see the town in the distance, we took a few more steps when we heard a loud roar. Flying over our heads was a giant red dragon. It fled over to a large castle in the distance, which resembled the castle from the map.

"Well, I guess we know where we're going to get the Crystal Star." I said.

We made it into the town during sunset. We decided we would venture into the castle the next morning and rest for the night in the Inn in Petalburg.

About halfway into the night, The three of us heard the roars we hear earlier, and a large shadow fell over the somewhat- peacefull town. I heard the sound of splintering wood and shattering glass from the house next door to us.

"Time for a midnight snack!" Said a loud voice. Looking out the window, I saw Hooktail on the groud with a middle aged Koopa in his mouth. Hooktail grunted and swallowed the guy whole. At Hooktail's feet, I saw a smaller Koopa, about 12- 14 years old, flailing his arms and screaming wildly.

"NO! DON'T TAKE HIM! DAD!" He screamed.

Just as Hooktail was flying away, Goombella, Luigi and I burst out the door and ran over to the Koopa.

"What happened, kid?" Asked Luigi.

"H-he took m-my father, j-just like h-he d-did mom." He said.

"He needs to sit down, guys, he's almost hysterical," I offered.

He lead us to his house and he sat down onto his bed. He was crying immensly. I sat down next to him with Luigi on the other side, the two of us patted him on the back, comforting him.

"What's your name?" Goombella asked.

"K-koops." He answered.

The Koopa was yellow with a bandage on his nose. His arms were thin and frail, which told me he didn't exercise.

"The three of us are going to Hooktail castle to fight him, maybe, if we're lucky, we might save your Dad. He was swallowed whole, so that may mean he's still alive." I said.

"I'm coming with you." Said Koops.

"What?" Said Goombella.

"That dragon can take you out in one hit, kid!" Said Luigi.

"I'm tired of being a wimp. I would always just stay inside while the other kids would play football. I would retreat into my shell when bullies tried to pick on me instead of standing up to them. This town is my home, and if the population is being eaten be a dragon, there will be nothing left soon. I want to do something about it."

I was amazed at what Koops had said. Who was I to tell him to wait on the sidelines?

"I say you should come with us." I said, "Guys? what do you think?"

Luigi and Goombella nodded at me.

"Welcome to the team, Koops."

**For the record, I KNOW Hooktail is a girl, however the characters don't. **

**For English students, that is called "Dramatic Irony" XD**

**Anyways, you will start to see some plot twists soon, and things will start to get VERY interesting in the story soon.**

**Review, read, and the new chapter should be out soon!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Courage Within

**This is my favourite chapter so far, and it will probobally be yours, too!**

**Ethan: Get on with it, YP.**

**Me: Yeah, sure, whatever.**

The morning couldn't have come fast enough.

I mean, seriously, I was going to fight a DRAGON? A red dragon that is five stories tall, can swallow anything my size in one gulp, and crush me under his talons?

I had to go through with it, though, I was on a mission to help Peach, and Koops wanted his dad back. I needed the crystal star that Hooktail was guarding.

We all met at the gate before Petal Meadows, making sure we had a good breakfast (I didn't really care for the mushrooms.) and our energy was up, Hooktail was massive, and we needed all the help we could get.

We spent about two hours hiking to Hooktail castle, it was about 10:30 by the time we could see it from the distance. Then we heard a sound that scared the living daylights out of all of us.

We heard the sound of flapping wings.

Hooktail was coming to _us._

He landed in front of us and roared so loud I almost fell backward, Goombella blew past me and smacked into a tree, Koops ran right into me and we toppled down, the weight of his shell nearly crushed me. Luigi got scared and ran behind a tree.

"Get... Off..." I grumbled at Koops, pushing him off of my chest.

"You." Hooktail said to me, "You are the one."

"Huh?" I replied, confused.

"You are the one I have been waiting for all these years."

Luigi peeked from behind his hiding place, Goombella shook her head and looked at me, afraid. Koops and I glanced at each other, wondering what Hooktail meant.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You are the mate I have been waiting for all of these years. I have finally found you."

My party looked uneasy, Goombella gave me a look, as if to say; The books were wrong? Hooktail's really a _girl?_

"Uh, look, I don't really want to-"

"Become my kind, assume the form of my species!" Roared Hooktail.

Her eyes illuminated and fired a yellow light that consumed me. When it dissapeared, I found myself standing fifty feet tall, on all fours, covered in blue scales. I felt wings on my back. I looked to my back and saw three thin tails protruding from my butt. My hands were razor- sharp claws.

I had become a blue version of Hooktail.

Luigi screamed at my new form and hid behind the tree again. Koops and Goombella stood next to each other, staring at me in awe, gawking at what had just hppened.

"Now, you and I will be perfect together, those creatures below us can be our wedding buffet." Said Hooktail with a smile on her face.

I stood frozen for a few seconds, then came out with my perfectly truthfull answer.

"NO WAY! YOU CAN'T JUST WALTZ UP TO SOMEONE AND TURN THEM INTO A DRAGON!" I roared, baffled at my loud voice. "I DIDN'T EVEN _WANT _TO DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE! CHANGE ME BACK RIGHT _NOW!_"

Hooktail looked at me plainly and said; "The transformation is permanent." She then turned round and flew away.

Luigi peeked from behind the tree he was hiding behind, realizing I wasn't going to make him into a tenderloin with fries and walked up next to me.

"Well, don't just stand there!" He said, with an annoyed tone in his voice, "Our ticket to the Crystal star is getting away! You may be different, but now you are just as big, strong, and powerfull as she is! We now have a chance at fighting her and winning against her!"

"Everyone, get on my back." I said flatly.

Everyone obeyed, and I played around with my muscles until I found the wings. I flapped them and rose into the air, persuing Hooktail.

She casually glanced back and saw me behind her. Her eyes widened and she began flapping faster, flying straight into the tower she lived in. I followed her into the tower, determined to take her out.

"Get out of my sight." Hooktail bellowed.

"Give me the Crystal Star you are guarding!" I yelled.

"Never!"

She immediately raised her left claw and began swiping at my face and chest. Koops got down with Luigi and Goombella to the other side of the tower, out of harm's way.

She slapped me really hard across my face. I focused on her eyes, because if she couldn't see, she couldn't fight. I scraped her eye with my claw, she howled and roared in agony, closing the blob that used to be her right eye. I then charged her hard with a headbut, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Koops sprung into action and began driving his shell onto her stomach and head.

"I. WILL. NOT. BE. A COWARD. ANYMORE!" Koops screamed as he repeatedly struck the dragon, getting over his fears.

Luigi found a hammer lying on the floor and began stubbing Hooktail's toes. Goombella jammed her head into Hooktail's stomach. I kept striking her in the face and neck. I began panting from the fight, and let out a sigh so hard, fire came out of my mouth, burning Hooktail's face and the inside of her mouth.

Hooktail screamed in agony and started breathing fire on me, I dodged it and took another swipe from her claws, leaving a long gash on my neck and right cheek. Koops retreated into his shell again and gathered speed by spinning around super fast, then finally connecting with the dragon's skull. I heard a sickening thud, then the dragon's eyes rolled back into her skull, she let out a final groan before her eyes closed, and she froze.

Almost immediately, Hooktail's entire body illuminated and dissintegrated, leaving behind three figures. One was bright blue Koopa shell, the second a beautiful human woman, the third was the Crystal Star.

The woman's eyes fluttered, and opened, she was a brunette, had a white silk dress on, and wore beautiful high heels.

"Thank you all," She said, "For helping me change back to my original form."

I looked at her, appearently she was somehow transformed into a dragon.

"How the heck did you become a dragon?" Asked Luigi.

"I was cursed by a witch, after refusing to serve her, she placed a mind control spell on me, and I was consumed, I became her pet. I have been under the spell ever since, unable to control myself, thank you from relesing me from it."

The Koopa shell next to her stirred, and a Koopa emerged, with brown eyebrows and a goatee, he immediately saw Koops, and ran up to him, hugging him, with tears in his eyes. I was happy the two had been reunited.

Goombella and Luigi looked at me, and grabbed the crystal star. They climbed on my back. I felt the cool rock touch my back. I immediately was surrounded by light again. When it dissapeared, I was back to normal.

"_One star will reveal the true form of altered beings," _Goombella recited. "That's from a book I've read. That must mean that the others have supernatural powers, too."

Afterward, we all went back to Petalburg. The citizens threw a massive party for us. Koops accepted the Key to the City from mayor Kroop. The brunette, apperently named Evelin, shared a house with Koopley, Koops' dad. The two became very attached, which was ironic, because Evelin ate Koopley as Hooktail.

After the large party, Luigi, Goombella, Koops and I found a warp pipe that lead back to Rogueport. Koops wanted to join the rest of us on our quest to get the Crystal Stars, and we greatly accepted him. Without another word, we all took turns going down the pipe, heading back to Rogueport to reveal the next Crystal Stars' location.

****

Wow, two chapters in one day? I'm on a freakin' role!

Anyways, review and tell me about what kind of transformations you want to see in the future parts of the story.

Next stop: Boggly Woods!

YoshiPerson OUT!


	5. Chapter 5: The Letter From D

**The first Crystal Star has been found! What will happen to Ethan and co.? What fate awaits their next adventure? Who turned Evelin into Hooktail? Will a clue be found that links to Mario's dissapearance? Before we get back to Ethan, here is what Peach is doing right now!**

A large man stood in a tall metalic chamber, working on a computer, his head seemed to be filled with computer chips, his spectacles showed bloodshot eyes and a psychopathic look. The man had long purple robes, with a white "X" on the middle. He laughed like he was choking.

"X-Naut 00342! I summon you!" He bellowed.

The man's name was Grodus. He watched as the metal doors on the other side of the chamber opened with a mechanic _whoosh!_

"What is it, dude, I mean, sir?" The smaller man asked.

"Report about today's events."

"Well, dude, it seems that the Crystal Star we figured that was in Petal Meadows exists."

"Excellent, send brigade 005A to recover it." Demanded Grodus.

"We can't, dude."

"And why not?"

"It appears, Grodus, that it was found already by a gang of people."

"Send the prisoner in here. She may have links to the group."

Minutes later, a beautiful woman bressed in pink was brought in. Her blonde hair shining off of the bright lights in the chamber.

"Tell me, Princess Peach, who did you send the map to?" Said Grodus.

"I will never talk." Said Peach with an annoyed look on her face."

"What was the description of the people, X-Naut 00342?"

"Well, dude, spies saw a blonde teenage boy turn into a Dragon and fight Hooktail, a Goomba with a hard hat and a red neckerchief, a Koopa Troopa, and a fellow wearing a green cap and blue suspenders." Said the X-Naut.

"_Luigi!" _Whispered the Princess.

"What was that, Princess? 'Luigi,' was it? Gaack ack ack ack ack! Wonderful! The tounge of a prisoner never fails! But, where will they be next? Where is the next Crystal star this 'Luigi' is going after?" Laughed Grodus.

Almost immediatly, a small dark vortex appeared over the X-Naut's head, a small letter fell out of it. Grodus took the letter and read it.

The letter read:

_Look in the Great Tree of the Boggly Woods._

_-D._

Grodus smiled, he turned to the X-Naut.

"Tell the Shadow Sirens to go with brigade 05A to the Boggly Woods with Lord Crump. I want the star found before the 'Luigi' fellow does, and if they run into him and his friends, tell them to _crush _him."

"Oh, no!" Screamed the Princess.

"Take her to her room." Ordered Grodus.

The X-Nauts took her by her wrists through the door, back to the room where she was being held.

**I know, shorter than the other chapters, but it's an interlude, there will be several throughout the series.**

**Anyways, where is Princess Peach being held? Who are the mysterious X-Nauts? Who is the mysterious "D"? What will meet our heroes in the Boggly Woods?**

**By now, you will relize that the story is basically being retold with more mystery. I will say this: The next crystal star battle will be NOTHING like Chapter 2 in the game.**

**Until next chapter,**

**YoshiPerson, OUT!**


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